Chas | 
12 17th, 2008| 
What is tuning?
Tuning your guitar or any instrument is the most fundamental and important part there is to playing. If you are out of tune it doesn’t matter how good of a guitar player you are because it will sound absolutely awful!
Most people can hear a really bad singer and can tell that they are singing out of key. And usually you are embarrassed for them! If a guitar is out of tune it’s the same thing…basically the strings are singing in the wrong key and it will sound like one of those terrible singers you see on American Idol that get laughed off the stage.
All the strings on the guitar need to be in tune with each other and the other instruments in the band in order to sound right. Tuning simply gets all the strings to play together in the correct frequencies.
How to Tune:
There are a few different ways to tune a guitar. The most basic but the hardest is tuning by ear. To tune by ear you must have a reference note such as a tuning fork or a piano so that you can sound the note you want to match.
If you know where an A is on a piano you can tune your A string to that note and from there tune the rest of your guitar to that string. Tuning by ear is the most difficult way to tune because it takes practice to get to where you can tell if two notes are matching. Sometimes two notes can sound the same but in fact one is sharp (higher) or flat (lower) than the other note.
To tune by ear you need to find that reference note and match it with the respective string. So let’s say you have an E note. You can now match your low E string (the biggest string) on your guitar to that E reference note. Once you have it matched you can move on to the other strings and here’s how.
To tune the A string you just hold down the low E string that you just tuned on the 5th fret. You hold down and then play the low E string on the 5th fret because that is the exact same A note that the A string should sound like. So all you do is keep playing that A note on the 5th fret of the E string and then adjust the A string to sound exactly like it. With practice it will get easier and easier to match the 2 notes.
Next do the same thing with the A and D string. Hold down the A string on the 5th fret and match the D string to that note. Once they are in tune you are halfway done!
Now do the same thing on the D and G string. Notice how we are just working from the biggest string to the thinnest. You can go in the opposite order to but for now let’s keep going! Hold the D string down on the 5th fret and match the G string to that note.
Next is the only string where we move to a different fret. To tune the B string you will hold the G string down on the 4th fret and match that note.
Lastly, you will hold the B string on the 5th fret and match the high E string to that note. Now if you tuned it well you should be ready to rock!
The easy way:
Tuning by ear is very important to know how to do and is also a great exercise to help develop your pitch!
The way I prefer to tune is simply with a tuner pedal. You can plug your guitar directly into the pedal and stomp on it to stop the sound from coming out of the amp while tuning your guitar. I always feel that this is the most professional way to tune the guitar.
TIP: Do NOT tune on stage by ear! You can lose your audience and annoy them by taking a lot of time and making annoying noise trying to tune your guitar out loud by ear.
Using a pedal is more precise and allows you to cut the signal going to your amp so no one has to listen to you tune. Just bite the bullet and spend the extra $$ for a good tuner pedal.
